Demonstrators say King Tut exhibit depicts wrong skin color

http://www.centredaily.com ^ | Dec. 17, 2005 | MACOLLVIE JEAN-FRANCOIS

[Rebelbase]

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A "King Tut is back and he's still black" placard drew the gaze of visitors making their way to view the acclaimed exhibit at the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale Saturday.

Across from the entrance, about 25 demonstrators donning T-shirts marked with various pro-black slogans held up the placards. Waving the red, black and green African flag, at times moving to the beat of djembe drums on the sidewalk, they asked drivers in passing cars to honk in support of their goal: reminding people not to take the lighter-skinned portrait of King Tutankhamun on display as an accurate depiction.

"We're visual people, so whatever they throw at us, we're going to take it as a fact, when in reality it's just a theory," said demonstrator Asante Waa. "We're afraid of the implications that this recreation is going to have on kids, especially on black kids."

Particularly controversial in "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" are computer-generated busts of Tut with a skin tone that critics say make him look Caucasian.

"For the Image of the Living God (as Tutankhamun represents) to be replaced with anything else but a black man's is a slap in the face," said Alicia Milligen, a Lauderhill, Fla., nurse.

Demonstrators passed out fliers with information about the Boy King who reigned over Egypt more than 2,000 years ago. They hope to educate others about King Tut by visiting schools, churches and libraries, said demonstrator Evie Iles.

"It's our history," said Iles, who viewed the exhibit and thinks the lighter skin tone may be a marketing strategy. "We encourage people to go and see the authentic artifacts and to challenge what's inauthentic."

Mary Lefkowitz, a retired classics professor and author of "Not Out of Africa: How `Afrocentrism' Became an Excuse to Teach Myth as History," said Saturday that the demonstrators had a point.

"Ancient Egyptians from Memphis (Egypt) would have had to go to the back of the bus in Memphis, Tennessee, during the days of segregation," the Wellesley, Mass.-based author said in a telephone interview. "The Egyptians were kind of copper-colored."

Museum of Art officials say they are talking to historians with different viewpoints about planning a forum on the topic, but no date has been set.

"It's an interesting conversation that needs to be held," Lynn Mandeville, director of community affairs, said.

Museum visitors said they know the ancient Egyptians were not white, but the demonstration did put the race question at the forefront of some people's minds.

Danielle Dyer, a West Palm Beach, Fla., mother who brought her two biracial daughters along, said she found herself looking more at the shape of the eyes, nose and other features.

"You have to be reaching pretty far to find anything racial about it," Dyer said.

[albee]

Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez!!!!!

That picture set off my GAYDAR receiver!

[Zuben Elgenubi]

We report, you decide

[Bernard Marx]

They did not use the pigment for painting themselves.

Sometimes they did. Ancient Egypt was a multiracial society. There were many blacks from Nubia directly to the south. I saw the Tut exhibit rececently and made a special point of noting skin color when possible. There was a range from almost pure white (Nefertiti) to the blackest of black. Light olive hues seemed to predominate, especially among the ruling elites.

The nuts who push the "Black Egypt" nonsense seem to be making the argument that goes: are you going to believe me or your own two eyes?

[surely_you_jest]

Gack!

Is it just me, or does the computer-generated likeness of Tut bear a striking resemblance to Babs Streisand?

[Michael.SF.]

Based on that picture, you will now have the Gays saying King Tut was one of them and also a TV.

[Calvin Locke]

I saw Martin's publicity push on Carson. "Gee Steve, looks like you're going to make a lot of money with this album..."

Martin just smiled and said nothing.

I even remember Victor Buono reciting poetry on Carson. Or was is limericks? *sigh* Entertainment ain't what it used to be.

It never was.

[beethovenfan]

I think I saw him in San Francisco.

[LibFreeOrDie]

Sure does look like Babs! But she already looked like Queen Nefertiti, so as I said earlier, maybe the ancient Eqyptians weren't so much Afro as Jewish!

[RouxStir]

I say let it be known that the Egyptian pharohs were black....and that black Americans owe slave reparations to the Jews they enslaved, plus interest.

[Rebelbase]

Olivine?

[surely_you_jest]

maybe the ancient Eqyptians weren't so much Afro as Jewish!

Interesting thought. So is # 29!

[Rebelbase]

[Polybius]

The Egyptians were no less accomplished in painting than in portrait sculpture. In wall-paintings in Egyptian tombs and temples, the most minute details of daily life were rendered with a precision that still delights the eye today. One of the conventions of Egyptian art is that men were painted with reddish-brown skin, as if they spent most of their time outdoors. Women were painted with pale yellow skin, as if they spent most of their time indoors. .......... Foreigners of many nationalities make occasional appearances in Egyptian art--Hittites, Canaanites, Philistines, Greeks, Hottentots, and others. They are painstakingly depicted with their distinctive hairstyles, clothing, accoutrements, and skin color. Blacks, on the relatively rare occasions when they appear, are depicted with coalblack skin. Unmistakably Negroid hair and facial features are visible in many of these depictions. In addition, blacks are often shown wearing animal skins, whereas Egyptians are almost invariably dressed in white cotton. On the relatively rare occasions when blacks appear in egyptian art, they are commonly depicted as defeated enemies, mercenary soldiers, tribute bearers, or slaves. To argue that blacks played more than a peripheral role in the development of Egyptian civilization requires ignoring this massive record.

[Mad_as_heck]

It's unfortunate that in pushing the embarrassingly idiotic "King Tut was black" and "Cleopatra was black" agenda these people are denying the glorious history of Nubia: An actual black nation to Egypt's south.

Nubia had an eventful history that deserves to be better known. Black Nubians built pyramids. Black Nubians developed a unique written language. They even conquered Egypt for a time and were one of the few nations to successfully repel a Roman invasion- under the leadership of a powerful Queen.

Cool stuff. Too bad sabotaging the West's heritage is more important. I bet none of these people cares about the suffering of Nubia's modern successor, the Sudan, either.

[generally]

The really sad part is the people who think it makes them look better or worse if some other person is a particular color.

Guess what. It doesn't say anything about your accomplishments or lack of them to point at the accomplishments of some other person.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Because Egypt was teh crossroads (ie, rape and plunder) of many thousand years of fighting across that land.

But to claim that Tut was Negroid is merely exaggerating the racism of the "protesters".

Through this exhibit, and their bias, "they" are the ones distorting what facts are available for THEIR agenda.

[Phsstpok]

I even remember Victor Buono reciting poetry on Carson. Or was is limericks?

Poetry, which he largely wrote himself. My favorite is this one

Fat Man's Prayer

Lord, My soul is ripped with riot
incited by my wicked diet.
"We Are What We Eat," said a wise old man!
and, Lord, if that's true, then I'm a garbage can.

I want to rise on Judgment Day, that's plain!
But at my present weight, I'll need a crane.
So grant me strength, that I may not fall
into the clutches of cholesterol.

May my flesh with carrot-curls be sated,
that my soul may be polyunsaturated
And show me the light, that I may bear witness
to the President's Council on Physical Fitness.

And at oleomargarine I'll never mutter,
for the road to Hell is spread with butter.
And cream is cursed; and cake is awful;
and Satan is hiding in every waffle.

Mephistopheles lurks in provolone;
the Devil is in each ice cream cone.
Beelzebub is a chocolate drop,
and Lucifer is a lollipop.

Give me this day my daily slice
but, cut it thin and toast it twice.
I beg upon my dimpled knees,
deliver me from jujubees.

And when my days of trial are done,
and my war with malted milk is won,
Let me stand with the Saints in Heaven
In a shining robe--size 37.

I can do it Lord, If You'll show to me,
the virtues of lettuce and celery.
If You'll teach me the evil of mayonnaise,
of pasta a la Milannaise
potatoes a la Lyonnaise
and crisp-fried chicken from the South.
Lord, if you love me, shut my mouth.

~ By Victor Buono ~

[LibFreeOrDie]

Compare photos in #16/17 to photo of Babs here:

http://dvd10.aldokkan.com/B9PW7G.html

Separated at birth!

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Does anybody know King Tut’s lineage?

For example, the Ptolemy’s (Cleopatra’s family) were from Macedonian and were direct descendants from a general of Alexander the Great’s army. Until Cleopatra’s reign, the court spoke Greek and not the language of their people. Cleopatra was the first one to speak whatever the masses spoke. In fact, Cleopatra spoke nine languages.

Also, they married among themselves.

What is my point? Was King Tut Egyptian?

Thank you.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

I am not an expert on ancient Egyptian history, but I have studied the history. Also, I visited Egypt twice and traveled to Luxor and Aswan in the South. Egyptians in Aswan are called Nubians (there is a Nubian culture that dates back to the ancient days). The Nubians are black. The Egyptians in Luxor are also black, but appear to be a mix of black and white. The Egyptians in the north around Cairo are more like olive skinned Mediterraneans.
The history that I have read says that the early Egyptian civilization arose in Memphis (near Cairo) and the people were olive skinned Mediterraneans. By the time of the "New Kingdom," after the Hyxos invasion, the capitol had moved to Luxor in the south. The Egyptologist that gave us the tour of the Egyptian museum at Cairo stated that King Tut was likely of mixed heritage.